And Maybe One Day, You Will Love Me Back
by AquiXia
Summary: When offered the chance to leave, Caitlin doesn't run back to her friends but rather makes a painful decision; to stay with the monster who'd kidnapped her. This proves to be an even harder choice when she learns that she is carrying his child.
1. A Difficult Choice

"I see you haven't left," Hunter entered Barry's lab, satisfaction not hidden in his monstrous voice when he walked in to find Caitlin facing the window, watching the silent city sky. "I feared you were going to leave me to join your friends," he said, his voice sending a shiver down Caitlin's spine. Walking towards and stopping right behind her, he took off his mask and confessed, his voice returning to normal. "Thank you for making the right choice."

Caitlin closed her eyes for a second and inhaled, trying to calm her senses. They were all acting at once – she was feeling too much. Anger, pain, fear, betrayal; they had all hit at once. She felt like she was turning her back to her friends despite the fact that she was not. She had chosen to stay for plenty of reasons.

Staying close to Zoom meant first hand access to all his plans, which she could probably figure out a way to warn her team about before something bad happened. Being close also enabled her to talk even the smallest bit of sense into him; stopping him from murdering innocents. He _had_ spared her friends after all, and when she was by his side in the police station, he had not gone further than to verbally threaten the police. When he actually did kill them, it was because she was not there.

It was by no means a reliable way to minimise collateral damage but if her pleas could save at least some people, it was worth a shot. At least she had a better chance of keeping Cisco, Joe and the others safe when on Zoom's good side rather than running away and ensuring he would kill them all; including herself. It wasn't worth the risk.

Besides, she doubted having any chance to run away. Either one of Zoom's henchmen would catch her on the way out or Hunter himself would come after her. With Barry dead, as she was told by Zoom, they stood almost no chance against the rogue meta army she heard chanting outside, let alone a broken hearted Zoom with twice the speed force power seeking revenge.

On the other hand; how _were_ her friends going to stop the army? Even if they managed to contact the Arrow and even Firestorm, Atom and the others; they would not be able to arrive on time. Her team had no idea that Zoom had hoarded a vast number of meta humans, a hypothesis she came up with by trusting her ears, and she had no way of contacting them right now. If she had ran, she might have found a way to at least give them a warning to let them prepare or even hide. She knew very well that Joe and Harrison would want to get Wally and Jesse to safety immediately.

But she had been too afraid, too selfish to run away. This wasn't whom Ronnie had fallen in love with; a scared girl who couldn't weigh the risk and benefits of leaving or staying. No, he had fallen for the woman who could make up her mind the moment she faced a problem, and managed to do the best for everyone.

Caitlin was feeling terribly guilty, and stupid. She was the one closest to the serpent among them; she was so close that he had fallen in love with her, even opened up about his sickness, his doppleganger, his 'feelings,' however real or fake they might have been. She should have figured out, connected the dots before all this harm had been done, and before her friends were hurt. Instead, she had let her _guard down_. Caitlin Snow, of all the people, who knew how much it pained to love, who was an expert in locking up feelings and being emotionless, had decided to let her guard down when this tall, handsome, heroic speedster waltzed into her life 6 months after she lost her husband.

It was her wounded heart's fault for looking for the warmth and safety of love to repair itself.

Overwhelm of the feelings hit her in the form of silent tears sliding down her cheeks and dripping on the window frame. Her eyes were already reddening but her face showed no emotion.

When Caitlin felt Hunter's figure behind him, she did not respond for a moment, she wanted to spare him the satisfaction of seeing her emotions, at least for that moment. She slowly turned back, gazing right into his eyes. "So you _do_ feel fear," she stated, almost whispering.

Memories from his childhood flashed in front of his eyes; _"Don't be afraid, Hunter," his mom whispered after he woke up to the sound of the front door opening downstairs. "I'll be right back," she whispered and placed a kiss on his forehead, trying to hide her fear from her son. She left his room to face the intruder; his father._

Hunter shut his eyes, taking in a deep breath, shaking off the memory from his eyes. Caitlin was slowly figuring out his weaknesses, the key words that triggered his painful memory flashes. While she was trying not to abuse the usage of these words to prevent loss of their power; at moments like this she at least tried to figure out new ones. Suggesting the idea of being afraid was on point, she took a mental note of that.

"Only when it's about losing you," he said, his smooth voice as gentle as it was the night they first kissed. Hunter wanted to reach out, touch her cheek, caress her face, but he knew she would just jerk away. Rather than suffering her rejection, he was simply avoiding actions that she would reject. Still, he reached out to grab her hand. She did not hold his, but did not pull away immediately; they remained in physical contact for a few seconds before she spoke back.

"Coming from the man who threatened to kill me and my friends had I left?" she asked, her tone making sure he knew that it was actually a statement. Her eyes were locked onto his. He had always been an expert at reading people, especially through the eyes. He had been able to read her as well; she had been so open all that time they were close. But right now, he couldn't see through the cold veil of emotionlessness in her eyes; he couldn't figure out what she felt, what she wanted to say, what she wanted to do.

He took a step back, knowing well that there was no proper justification for threatening her life. She looked like she needed the space, but he needed her more right now. "I did what I had to."

"That excuse is getting old," she shot back calmly. She had no idea what had gotten into her; she was talking back at the man who had the power to kill everyone in the city within a matter of seconds.

Hunter was taken aback, but also glad to see the brave spark in her eye, for which he had fallen for. " _Caitlin,_ " he said, putting emphasis on the name he had used rather than the nickname he adored. "I have to do this to succeed and I want you by my side when I conquer this Earth."

Something inside her _snapped._ "You _had to_ kill dozens of innocents just to strike fear into the other handful left? Why, so you can enjoy killing them even more?" she cried out, her voice rising. "You say you love me, yet you threaten to kill me if I take my _freedom_ back. You imprisoned me, you are unleashing an army on my home, you are killing the people I care about and you expect me to love you back? No, Hunter, I will never love you. The man I loved was killed before my eyes when Zoom shoved an arm through him."

Hunter had his breath caught in his throat for a moment, his mouth opened but no words fell. He wanted to tell her, tell her that he was the man she had fallen for, that she just needed time to learn to love him again, but he couldn't. He had threatened the woman he loved, and he meant it. He was going to kill her had she ran away, just like his father killed his mother.

" _Don't look away, Hunter,"_ his father's voice echoed in his mind. _'Bang!'_ and Ashley Zolomon's dead body fell to the ground, her hazel eyes blankly facing the ceiling, blood oozing out of her body and forming a thick, smooth puddle.

"I will not become him," Hunter groaned, talking to himself rather than Caitlin. Cupping his face between his hands, he took a step back, as if trying to get away from an invisible foe. "I will NOT!" he shouted, shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts.

His actions scared Caitlin, causing her to take a step back. Watching his actions closely, with widened eyes, she understood his fear. She had felt the same way about becoming her mother after Ronnie died and she isolated herself from the rest of the world. She did not want to become her and Hunter did not want to become his father; another similarity between the two which scared her almost as much as his threats.

"Then don't – " Caitlin began, but was cut off by a meta calling for Zoom at the doorframe.

It was a young woman, no older than 20, just a tad shorter than Caitlin. She had extremely long hair braided in a fishtail. It was in a gradient from deep orange to pale yellow, getting lighter as it went down to her knees. She wore a purple, leather, long sleeved skin tight suit; with a deep V shaped cleavage reaching from her chest to just below her belly button, revealing a large portion of her tanned torso. A matching pair of knee high boots accompanied the suit and a tiara decorated with bronze flowers finished off the look, making her bright green eyes stand out. She was beautiful.

"Siren said you wanted to see me," she said, her voice so sweet and enthusiastic it was hard to believe that she was one of the evil psychopaths in Zoom's army.

Hunter snapped back into reality, the intruder's voice postponing his mental struggle. He did not rush for his mask or tried to cover his face, it was obvious that the girl knew his real identity; or at least his face.

"I have a task for you," he said, making her grin.

"Finally, what can I do for you, Zoom?"

Caitlin couldn't figure out how the girl seemed so eager to help the man who could be considered the dictator of meta humans. She was sure that at least half of the meta humans downstairs were threatened into coming to a foreign Earth, just as Doctor Light and all others were when they first arrived.

Zoom turned towards Caitlin, talking to the girl but looking into her eyes with the usual smug smile on his face. "Stay with her, make sure she doesn't run away or try to pull off tricks, and most importantly," he nodded towards the door, indicating any potential threats, may it be a meta human or someone with team Flash, "make sure she is safe."

* * *

 _Guess who finally started writing that Zolomon story? Sorry for being so late, I've been waiting for the inspiration (which struck me at 5.11 in the morning)._  
 _I know I'm a little late but hey, after Barry screwed everything up in the finale, and since there are an infinite number of universes, technically my take on the story could have happened!_

 _Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed it, thank you!_

 _P.S. Kudos to anyone who can guess whose doppelganger the meta girl is!_

 _Aquixia_


	2. Starfire

When Caitlin got a call from the S.T.A.R. Labs director Harrison Wells a week before her graduation from college as the valedictorian, inviting her to an interview, she had no idea it would lead to all the mess in her life.

Caitlin Snow had always been an outcast, throughout her high school life as well as college. Not because she was _forced_ to be, no, she had always been the red headed smart girl the jocks kept hitting on, heck, the football team had collected a sum of money among themselves to reward the player who would have her as his prom date, but because she chose to be.

Attending a public school was a struggle for her because there was no challenge to her intellect and she could never find anyone to discuss things she actually cared about, such as the miracles that came with the discovery of stem cells, and how on-going research about thermodynamics had massive effect on the field of clean energy sources. That, plus she believed social interactions outside the classroom to be extremely unnecessary and a waste of time.

At college, she was surrounded by geniuses, but this time they were too busy and uninterested to socialise, not that she minded. Everyone just minded their own business and in four years, medical school was over and she was invited to work at S.T.A.R. Labs while working on her bioengineering PHD.

That was when things started to get interesting, to say the least. First, she met Ronnie Raymond, a mechanical engineer who was _too_ interested in her life. Maybe it was because she was so closed to herself that he wanted to find out who the person was behind her hard, protective, self-forged shell or perhaps it was because he found her sarcastic, stern façade mysterious and intriguing. Whichever one it was, he managed to break right through her defences and Caitlin found herself fallen in love with the man.

Then came Cisco Ramon, Ronnie's best friend, and also somewhat of an admirer. He was this goofy, nerdy little guy who was obsessed with everything sci-fi related. He was certainly not the type of person Caitlin would found herself being best friends with. He was too childish, too energetic to be around but in some strange way, she found his radiating energy nourishing.

It was the high point of her life, surrounded by the bioengineering team she was leading who admired her and her work alike, other leading members of the S.T.A.R. Labs community who were just as happy to work with as she was, a loving fiancée, a great, understand boss and the workplace environment and opportunities she had dreamt of since middle school.

And that is when it all went downhill in a storm of crazy. It started with a massive explosion which presumably killed her fiancée, and certainly destroyed her career. An explosion she had found out was planned by her boss, who was not Harrison Wells at all but an impersonator from the future. The explosion created a speedster, the Flash, also known as Barry Allen, who she became fast friends with, pun intended. He managed to break through her re-forged shell, just so she could build it back up after the death of her fiancée who had just came back as one half of the superhero, Firestorm.

The event that had killed him had opened up a wormhole through space and brought a new speedster from another Earth to theirs, Jay Garrick. Or so they had thought. This new speedster managed to play all the people in her life, as well as Caitlin herself. But the speedster who was revealed to be the monster, Zoom, had not just fooled her, he had made her fall in love once again. Unfortunately, this was unplanned and Zoom, Hunter Zolomon had found himself in love with the doctor.

This had led Caitlin to save lives that would otherwise have been cruelly ended by Zoom but also led her to her current situation as Zolomon's captive.

She stood, her eyes not disturbed anymore by the bright blue lightening that flashed as Zoom left the lab, leaving her under a young meta's guard.

* * *

Half an hour later, Caitlin was still standing at the same spot, watching another stream of smoke rise from a part of the city she had helped save more than a dozen times, with tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. She was trying to be strong, but after the news of Barry's death, the chances of Zoom's defeat had dropped drastically, and she knew that she could only keep him from killing everyone she loved for a short time.

"It's getting boring here," the meta girl said, as she walked over to Barry's computer and started searching through his music. "I like this Earth's music, it's nice to see that president Beyoncé actually is productive somewhere in the universe." After searching through a minute, she turned on _Halo_ , and started humming along. Caitlin was surprised to see that the girl had quite a nice voice.

"Don't you talk at all?" the girl asked. "I know Killer Frost never shut up when it came to teasing and bragging, but you've done neither since I came."

Caitlin turned to face the girl upon the mention of her doppelgänger who was killed right before her eyes by Zoom, for attempting to kill her. Ever since Cisco mentioned Frost to her, a part of Caitlin was afraid of becoming like the psychopathic meta. One factor that relieved her was the fact that unlike Cisco, she had no powers like her counterpart so she technically _couldn't_ become the ice villain.

"I don't feel like talking," she replied calmly. She truly didn't.

"Well," the girl replied. "You probably should start. Zoom assigned me to guard you after all, we will be spending a lot of time together."

Caitlin sighed, trying to ignore the mentioned fact. "Until he kills you, you mean?" she replied, hoping that if she managed to scare the girl, she could turn her against Zoom.

It backfired, as the girl shrugged and giggled. "What, Hunter? He wouldn't hurt me. He's the one that took me in in my time of need; he is like my older brother."

Caitlin raised a brow, surprised that Zoom would do such a favour to anyone, no matter what he would gain in return.

The girl was proving to be as talkative as she was energetic, reminding her too much of Cisco. "My name is Koriand'r, I came to Earth 2, as you call it, from the planet Tamaran." Caitlin listened in awe, not exactly believing in the fact she was face to face with an alien, but not finding it impossible either after all that she had seen. "I was betrayed by a bunch of 'elite' slave hoarders called Slavers who had promised to return my older sister, Komand'r, who was sold to them by our uncle, the king, in exchange for his crown. So I killed him in his sleep and gave the crown to the leader of the hoarders, but instead of returning my sister, they slit her throat before my eyes."

The girl sighed and settled herself on Barry's desk, her previously lively and energetic face reflecting the pain of the experience she was telling about. "Then they started chasing me because I was the rightful heir to the throne as the only living Princess left of our family, so I fled to Earth, thinking they couldn't track me. They did. But Zoom found me before they did, and he helped me defeat the Trackers, an elite team of man hunters the Slavers had sent to kill me."

"Why?" The question silently escaped Caitlin's lips. She was unwillingly drawn into the tragic story Kori was telling, and she almost found herself sympathizing with the girl.

Koriand'r looked up, surprised to see that the doctor was actually listening to her. "I don't know. Maybe he just saw something in me, but he never asked for anything in return. He then told me to return to Tamaran and get regain my birth right, the throne. So I did, I went back home and killed each and every Slaver, one by one. However, by the time I was done, my own people had named me a criminal. Tamaranians are strictly against executions, and they were too blinded by their traditions to see what these monsters had done to them. And so I was exiled, kicked out of my own kingdom," she almost spat out, anger hinted in her voice.

"Hunter welcomed me when I returned, he took me in and, I was one of the first to join his cause, and my powers proved useful to him, so, I donned the alias Starfire and, well, here I am," Kori shrugged, her voice returning back to the energetic, lively tone.

Caitlin was surprised to hear that Hunter would help someone, let alone without expecting anything in return. Also the weird, symbiotic relationship he had with this young girl was very hard to define. Caitlin knew that Hunter didn't care for, or love anyone except her. That only left one possibility; the girl held a strong power which Zoom either needed on his side, or did not want against him.

"So, what's your story?" Kori asked.

"He played me, threatened to kill my friends and when I begged him not to, he captured me and brought me here to watch my home be destroyed and is keeping me here by threatening my life as well as my friends'," Caitlin summarised, anger audible in her voice. She knew she shouldn't have talked to the meta but Starfire's tragic story had reminded Caitlin of her own struggles, and she found herself not opened up, but not entirely shut down towards the young girl.

Kori made a pout, then immediately went back to smiling, "You don't need to worry at all, I'm certain Hunter will not even come close to physically hurt you."

Caitlin rolled her eyes, she didn't care about being physically hurt, she was worried about her friends, her family and everyone else in the city. She knew that if she played along, there was a chance that Hunter wouldn't harm her, he _wanted_ her to be the only one left to rule with him over a deserted Earth anyway, he, in a weird, twisted way, loved her. But he was, if not stopped, going to destroy her home and murder everyone in it eventually, that had been his purpose all along after all, and now that he had her to witness his glory, there was nothing that could be done to change his mind.

She decided to entertain the girl anyway, "And why do you think that?"

"Well, firstly, you are the only woman who'd ever make him feel loved, so he loves you and cares for you too deeply. And secondly," she nodded towards Caitlin's abdomen, confusing the doctor. "Hunter might be cruel, but he would never harm his own child."

The statement caused Caitlin's eyes to widen, first as a wave of shock passed through her, then as realisation hit and things started to make sense. She had been nauseous for a few days and bloated as well for the past week, but she had rightfully blamed that on dehydration and shock of the recent events. But it had almost been a month since Hunter and her had spent their first night together and she was coincidentally late.

Caitlin took a few steps back, and collapsed into a nearby chair. "How do you know?" she questioned, her mind rejecting even the idea of her carrying the offspring of that monster.

"I can sense life," Kori replied. "And I sense one inside your belly, a little girl," she smiled as Caitlin's lips parted and she started breathing through her mouth, shock and uncertainty causing a mixture of emotions to hit her at once, making it hard to focus only on one. She started to get dizzy, as the knot in her throat making it hard to breathe, preventing her lungs from getting sufficient oxygen.

As Caitlin tried to gather her thoughts together, Kori cheerfully asked, "Should I let you break the news to the father?"

* * *

 _A/N: Boom! There guys, I dropped the bomb that was set up by two other stories at once! Thank you all for the kind reviews, it is so nice to be back._

 _And congratulations to the people that guessed the identity of the meta right, it is Starfire! I was going to have Blackfire; Starfire's evil sister, Komand'r instead but I changed my mind since everyone is evil on Earth 2 so having_ bad _Starfire seemed only logical. Did you like the backstory on our beloved princess? I sure hope so!_

 _Stay tuned for the next chapter._

 _AquiXia_


	3. Sorrow

Zoom sped through the ransacked city; the mayhem looked chaotic, beautiful. A blonde, tiny meta from his Earth, Terra, was causing small quakes to overturn cars and make alarms go off. He was a minor threat, a mere bully like most of his soldiers were. They were only there to play around, have some fun and make noise; scare people to boost their own pathetic egos.

Ignisis, Terra's older sister was a tad stronger with the ability to create fire. She was tall and bulky, contrasting to her little brother. Her powers could have been very useful, if only they did not ignite her own body fat and degenerate her skin. The red head found herself constantly in need of eating and resting and regenerating.

At the corner of the street, between a pizzeria and small grocery store, a young couple was cornered by a blue, ghostly figure of a wolf the size of a bear. Zoom immediately notice Leila's conjured familiar, Bunny. The little girl was standing behind the beast, her short figure covered up by the translucent fur of her imaginary pet which came to life when she was struck by a wave of dark matter in her deep, dreamland of a sleep.

As Zoom got further away from the centre, he saw that, just as he ordered, the more powerful metas were moving towards the outer parts of the city to wreak havoc at potential hiding spots. There he saw Crow, formerly known as Jack Logan, the dark haired shape shifter had the ability to turn into a man sized raven. It wasn't an immense power but that wasn't certainly bad, considering Logan was convicted of attempted cannibalism.

The city was in ruins; smoke covered everything, pebbles rested where skyscrapers once stood and government buildings were under lock-down, housing officials who were now being held hostage. Although airports were protected against Zoom's army for a day or two, only a small fraction of the citizens were evacuated; the rest were now hiding in their homes or panic chambers or trying to leave via boats or helicopters. Nymph, a blue haired, slim faced, gorgeous meta with the ability to sense and control water currents was making sure that evacuation on water was not an option.

Zoom had given his metas almost full freedom to tear down the city, apart from a few, crucial rules, which had cost almost half a dozen metas' their lives for breaking. The first and foremost was to not to kill children, their mothers and pregnant women. Zoom was a monster but Hunter had a soft spot for motherly love. Secondly, some buildings were to be left standing so that the people had somewhere to hide and live in fear. What was the point of tyranny if no one was left to cower in fear? Finally, a single neighbourhood was not to be harmed. No one was allowed to touch a building, a person, or even a bird that lived there. A street that contained the well decorated, cosy flat where he slept a full night's sleep for the first time since… With the very woman he found himself in love with. A street that had housed a certain red headed doctor once.

He was unsure of what to do with that portion of the city once phase two of his plan was set in motion, but for now, he had some more time until the mayhem attracted the involvement of major forces of the country. The severest action the U.S. government would take would be resulting the use of nuclear warheads, Hunter guessed, and he had just the meta to fend those off. He was taking things slow, making sure his army was spreading, but at a slow, steady pace.

Bright lights from STAR Labs caught his eye as he ran; despite Barry's demise, the team had refused to shut the place down, or at least dim the lights. No, they wanted the world to know, for Caitlin to know, to _see_ , that they were still there, and they shone like a beacon of hope. Of course, that was a lie, and Hunter wanted to burst their little bubble of imagination in a fraction of a second by bringing the entire place down, but Caitlin had begged him, even stopped struggling against him, just to keep those pitiful excuses of friends safe.

After his nightly check was done, which didn't take quite long, Hunter changed direction towards the CCPD building, which now primarily functioned as his temporary headquarters. As a person who was hardly impressed, and even harder to keep interested, he had never grown bored of his powers, neither had he taken them for granted. His speed was his one true gift, the only thing he admired, and loved. Until she came into his life, that is.

Cold wind blowing at his face, body, felt like a mother's loving hug; embraced him as he ran. The lightning that coursed through his blood, the speed at which air entered his lungs, the friction acting upon him feeling like a gentle stroke, all things which would have been the death of anyone else, had made him feel more at home than anything else.

Contrary to common belief, when he first got his powers, his initial act was not to murder the fourteen police officers, it was to return to his _home_ ; the orphanage he had been dumped off to. He planned to start with killing the headmistress Grelod Honorall, referred to as Grelod the Kind. The name was unfortunately not the only misleading thing about her; she was a gorgeous woman when he first moved in, and days had been kind to her as she became the sweetest looking sixty – something lady. One thing that only the residents knew was that her favourite pass time was scarring the children she hosted, most of the time not physically.

" _Once upon a time, there was a young boy,"_ her bedtime stories began with. The rest of the story always varied, but the endings were always the same. " _And that buffoon of a lunatic father brutally murdered the unfaithful wife, leaving behind a pitiful waste of space in the wondrous land of Central City, named Hunter,"_ her voice would rise towards the end, and her sweet, soothing voice would go raspy and loud. He could discretely remember the pounding feeling in his eardrums.

" _Now go to bed!" the woman ordered, shoving the young orphan away as she normally did when he asked for anything before bedtime, half of the time, towards a wall or occasionally the fireplace. This time, it was the latter. The young boy screamed in agony as an amber piece of coal was flown towards his torso by the momentum of the impact, and he inhaled an unhealthy amount of ash from the previous day's fire. He coughed wildly as he tried to walk to his matchbox of a room, holding onto anything he could find as support on the way; the walls, the railings, lower shelves…_

Hunter felt the scar of the wound from almost thirty years ago throb painfully. It was a psychological pain, but he still reached for the old scar; slowing down for a third of a second.

He had returned to the orphanage, but he didn't kill the headmistress as he intended, rather, he found the body of the old woman in a pool of her own blood, with a young girl of no more than ten crouching next to it, sobbing into her tiny palms. Hunter hadn't recognized the girl, but he knew the woman standing behind the scene of crime; Dinah Lance. She looked as shocked as the girl, but showed no sign of fear or regret. Dinah Lance was a former resident alongside Hunter, and although the two never got along, they despised Honorall equally. Once they turned eighteen, Hunter went off to medical school in London, and Dinah went off to complete three years of studying on Child Development, after which she returned to the orphanage as a tutor.

" _I… I don't know what happened," Dinah whispered, looking back and forth between her hands, the body, and the man who had just appeared in front of her; following the sound of a thunder. "There was this massive bang, and she started yelling at Natalia," the woman gestured towards the sobbing youth on the floor, her voice a shaky whisper. "I've had enough, and began to shout at her when…"_

 _Hunter inspected the scene for a moment, then crouched down next to the young girl. "Hello there," he whispered, catching her attention, "don't be scared, she is gone. She is not coming back."_

 _The girl looked up to him, "I know." Hunter raised an eyebrow, shooting a glance at Dinah. The old woman most likely tormented the young girl as she had done with himself, it seemed very odd for her to be mourning after the witch. Dinah didn't move but her bottom lip twitched._

Hunter hadn't harmed the child, but he did hunt down her mother; a single woman, who had abandoned the little girl when she was just five, claiming that caring for a child took too much time and effort for her to be focusing on her career. Hunter had a soft spot for unfortunate children, and especially despised privileged parents that overlooked the blessing of a whole, unbroken family.

He shook off the memory and regained his speed. Focusing on past events had a way with interfering the present; he didn't like that at all.

* * *

At a distance, inside the S.T.A.R. Labs building, Cisco Ramon was pacing like a madman. "We have to retrieve Caitlin, guys we must get her back, she is surrounded by evil meta humans that probably want to eat her face off – "

"Eat her face off?" Harry interrupted, with a raised eyebrow.

Cisco stopped for a moment to look him in the eye, then continued where he left off, "'Kay, maybe _not_ eat her face off but damn it she must be horrified, she might lose it if we don't get her out of there soon!"

Iris didn't reply, sinking into the office chair she had been sitting on for the last few hours. Jesse exchanged a glance with her father, who looked almost as worried as Cisco, though did a _much_ better job hiding it. Harry, of all people, knew what it felt like to have someone so valuable imprisoned by Zoom.

Joe placed a hand on Cisco's shoulder, stopping him in his path. "Cisco, trust me, I want Caitlin back as much as you do but we can't get her back without Barry, and until we find a way to bring him back, Caitlin is the only thing standing between the city and utter destruction. Besides, Zoom won't hurt her, she is safe," he considered for a moment before adding, "Safer than we are, at least."

After taking care of Barry for nine months, Caitlin had become almost like a daughter to Joe. He had always admired strong women and Caitlin was the embodiment of intellect, independence and strength. Those, as well as saving his adopted son's life on countless occasions were the reasons for Caitlin growing on him along with Cisco so quickly after being tossed into his life.

"Oh God," Cisco said, holding his head between his hands. "Please don't tell me we're going to have to deal with a _Beauty and the Beast_ case."

Iris rose to her feet, showing little empathy at Cisco's lack of sense. He was supposed to be the scientist, after all. "Cisco, enough," she said at a higher volume than intended. "Look, unless we get Barry back, this place cannot do anything to stop Zoom, do you understand? Now stop wallowing and start thinking about how we will get him back."

Iris stormed out of the room, tears stinging her eyes. Cisco opened his mouth but Joe cut him off, "Don't worry, I'll go talk to her."

Jesse walked up to Cisco, who had collapsed into a chair with his mind in a mess of thoughts, well, messier than usual. "She's just upset, you know what love feels like," she tried to force a genuine smile. "Besides, Joe's right, as much as it hurts to admit, the safest place she could be right now is besides Zoom. There is no way he would allow anyone to so much as lend finger on Caitlin."

Cisco looked up to Harry who nodded in agreement, "We will get her back."

In the treadmill room, Iris sat on the side of Cisco's beloved toy, her elbows resting on her knees, and her hands held her head. She tried not to sob, she had to stay strong, but it was all happening too fast. Barry was gone, and with Caitlin away, the team was falling apart.

"Hey," Joe said, sitting next to her. "This place is crammed with geniuses, they will bring them both back," he said reassuringly.

Iris looked up, "What if they can't? They can't even prioritise, dad, Cisco's hell-bent on getting Caitlin back while Barry is God knows where. Don't get me wrong, I like her, she saved Barry's life after all, but even if she was here we still wouldn't be able to defeat Zoom."

"Maybe, maybe not. Caitlin and Cisco have brought Barr back to life countless times," he said, placing a hand on her knee. Iris looked up, but didn't respond. "I understand what you feel, sweetie but don't you think you are being a bit too harsh on Cisco? He just lost his two best friends, we have to help him focus again."

Iris nodded, then smiled as a thought occurred to her. "You know, maybe Cisco's panic induced ideas aren't so off sense."

Harry and Jesse were trying to comfort Cisco, and at the same time thinking of ways to get Barry back when Iris barged into the room with Joe following. She smiled reassuringly at Cisco, then turned to the others. "Guys, we are getting Caitlin back."

* * *

 _A/N: Hey guys! No, I'm not dead - can you believe it?!_

 _Thank you all so much for the reviews, they really make my day!_

 _As you might have noticed, I'm not following the story-line the show did, so do stick with me to find out what happens next ;)_

 _Hope you enjoyed,_

 _Aquixia_


	4. Mind Games

Iris West had been a little skeptical of Cisco and Caitlin when they first started looking after Barry, and the feeling remained with her for a while; even after she discovered the Flash's identity. It wasn't easy to believe that anyone could keep working at S.T.A.R. Labs after the Accelerator fiasco, let alone stay with and trust the man behind it. Her mistrust was proven right when Harrison Wells turned out to be Reverse Flash; the inability of two said geniuses to distinguish between their real boss and an imposter who just so happened to disappear every time Barry faced the villain, and not being able to connect the bold dots still put Iris at unease whenever Flash had to face a new, dangerous meta.

They had done the exact same thing this time; trusted in a person who secretly was the man behind all their troubles, even fall in love with him in Caitlin's case! Although Cisco had grown on her, Caitlin still had a way to go, she was an entirely different case. She hadn't been able to recognise Everyman cloaking as Barry, couldn't get Barry to overcome his fear of not being fast enough, and got a homicidal sociopath to obsess over her, leading to the kidnapping.

One thing was sure though; Caitlin had been Barry's caretaker, and if there was someone who knew how to get her only patient back from oblivion, it was Doctor Snow. Iris knew, at least hoped, the only thing remaining between her and Barry was getting Caitlin back. And now, in the room full of wondering eyes, she needed to devise a plan to do so.

"I thought you said only Barry can save her," Cisco said skeptically, his eyes narrowing with curiosity. "What gives?"

Iris nodded, "I did. But I might be wrong. Caitlin brought Barr back from the edge of the cliff many times before, and if anyone brings him back again, it might be her."

Cisco raised a brow, not quite sure whether or not he was supposed to believe her apologetic tone. She might not have meant what she said, but it was their only chance now. He glanced at Joe, who was standing behind Iris, and got a reassuring nod in exchange.

After a moment's silence, Jesse spoke up. "Alright, what's the plan?"

Her enthusiasm wasn't received well by her father, who reached an arm in front of her protectively. "Hold on, we need to hear what Miss West is thinking of first."

Iris nodded, understanding of Harry's hesitation to let her daughter get involved. He had lost her to Zoom once already, knowingly putting their daughter in harm's way a second time was enough to break any man. "Cisco has to vibe," she said, making all eyes in the room dart towards an unexpecting Cisco.

* * *

Kori rushed to support Caitlin as her knees let her down momentarily, and lead her to the nearest chair to sink in. Caitlin placed her head in her hands, eyes fixed on a spot on the floor but her mind too busy to comprehend what it was. It was preoccupied with trying to deal with shock, fear and doubt and bereaved from her recent loss. Her heart was beating its way out of her chest, adrenaline rushing through her veins. Her brain was trying to draw blood in an attempt to trigger her flight response, causing her entire body to tremble. Waves of pain pulsed in her head, blocking out all sound. They had all hit at once, and she was a single drop away from her breaking point.

And the world around her shattered to pieces when that last drop hit, as a familiar voice, one which she once found charming, understanding and homely called out, at the same time as another, less deep and brotherly one which cane from inside her head, and rang in her ears, "Caitlin."

She succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

When Zoom ran, it felt as though time slowed down around him. But right now, as his lover fell, it seemed to have stopped. The momentary discontinuation reminded him why he had brought her there in the first place; not as a trophy, and not just to show her what his powers were capable of but to protect her; to prevent anyone from harming her, just as Killer Frost had attempted.

But now, the one he cared about, the only now he truly loved was falling, he was feeling fear for the first time in a very long time. It almost made it seem as though he wasn't fast enough to catch her. Almost.

Starfire rushed in as well, and despite having been standing much closer to Caitlin than Hunter, he had already grabbed her by the time Kori had reached out. "She is okay, I sense her life force. It is weakened - it must be malnutrition but she will be find, and so will the —"

"— baby."

By the time Kori completed her sentence, Hunter had zoomed out with Caitlin in his arms, leaving the princess behind to sigh in discomfort.

Hunter laid Caitlin on her bed, inside the untouched flat. She was breathing fine, wasn't sweating and didn't have fever — everything seemed visually fine. She must've passed out from dehydration, or exhaustion, he thought. And rightfully too. She had refused any food and drink offered, and even though she barely sat on the bed in his lair, he had tied her to a table by the wrist and forced her to sit on the cold, hard floor.

Hunter realised how poorly he had treated Caitlin – despite having been trying to do exactly the opposite. At no point had he tried to break her, but rather to wean her out of hating him, to get her to love him as she once had.

He knew that if she was awake, she wouldn't even let him get into such close proximity to her but now, as she was unconscious, he was crouching by the bedside. Careful not to touch her, he ran his hand over her cheek. Hunter wanted to caress her face, hold her hand, let her rest against his chest as she used to, but respected her wish of not wanting to come in contact with him too much to do so.

As he sat by the bedside, he found a moment to look at the surroundings of the familiar room. The light pink wallpaper, beige carpet and wooden furniture complemented each other beautifully. Caitlin had told him that Ronnie had picked out the colours, despite her protests against such hues. She didn't talk much of him but on the rare occasion of the topic coming up, and she got lost in her own, isolated world as she spoke of Ronnie, Hunter found trying to conceal his jealousy and desire to take her away to a deserted island and openly claim her for himself to be one of the hardest things he had ever faced.

The frustration of waiting was growing on him, so he left the flat to do the one thing he'd always done to relieve stress – snap someone's neck.

* * *

Caitlin opened her eyes. 'Alright, Caitlin, assess the damage.' She tired to look around, but there was nothing to see, it was pitch black. She tried to use her hands to navigate, noticing just then that she was lying on her back. 'Well, I'm on my butt, and the ground is cold, that's a start.'

'It is terribly dark and I'm getting claustrophobic.' She slowly got up, careful not to tumble over her own feet. 'My fingers are numb, head is pulsing and I can't seem to remember anything, shit.'

A momentary glimpse of light caught her attention and she turned back, "Kori?" The light reappeared, a little bigger this time, she noticed the blue hues. Caitlin hesitated, disturbed by the thought of having been taken somewhere else by Zoom, somewhere she didn't know and couldn't see, but asked anyway. "Jay?"

No reply. 'Well, that's good news,' she thought with a sigh.

The light reappeared, and she identified the shape of an oval, a gradually growing blue; familiar sight of a portal opening. But it disappeared when someone called her name. She didn't turn towards the source this time, her back. She knew too well who this voice belonged to. 'Good job, Caitlin, you really went ahead and did it this time.'

Caitlin closed her eyes and inhaled as a way of building confidence. Then she stated the fact, "Ronnie."

"Caitlin," he replied with a smile. He looked incredibly happy and full of life, despite having died more than a year ago.

Caitlin was frozen in place, but Ronnie closed to the gap between them and pulled her into his arms, holding her as tight as he used to when they were just a normal couple leading one of the greatest projects of the century. He smelled her hair, eyes locked onto her face, as if to take in every detail. "I've missed you."

She'd missed him too, a lot. But she couldn't bring herself to speak the words, let alone look into his eyes. The last time she'd done that, she lost him. Instead, she hesitantly placed a hand on his chest and asked, eyes pointed to the ground, "Am I dead?"

"No," came the immediate answer. "But you came close." A smile of mischief spread across his lips as he placed a kiss on her temple. "I never saw you as one to seek trouble when we first met, you know that?"

Caitlin gave a lazy chuckle, "I guess yours was contagious."

Ronnie laughed, then sighed as he pulled her deeper into the embrace. "Strongly doubt that; you probably just attract it."

"Maybe that's how I attracted you, too?"

"Maybe."

There was a long pause and neither of them said anything. Having Ronnie by her side again, being in his warm embrace, hearing his voice again, it was comforting, it felt real. All too real.

"You aren't really here, are you?"

Ronnie didn't look startled, nor taken aback from the question. "Oh but I am, aren't I?"

"I'm unconscious, must've passed out from dehydration. That makes you a projection of memories my mind is making up."

"Ever the doctor," Ronnie laughed. "That could be the case. It doesn't change the fact that we're together, does it?"

Caitlin sighed and pulled away. She was starting to regain memories; remember where she was. She was in Barry's office with Kori, and was just old that she was pregnant. Caitlin felt a knot in her throat, it felt impossible but so very real. What was she supposed to do with an embryo? She didn't have the time to think about that right now, though. She had then heard her name called out, then Ronnie showed up.

"Thinking about the baby?"

Caitlin nodded. She was basically talking to herself, wasn't she? There was no point in being hesitant. "Barry is gone, Zoom cannot be stopped. I should be out there, helping my friends do whatever they can but I chickened out, I stayed."

"You did it to protect them, Cait." Hearing that nickname was something she'd missed, coming from someone she loved. "And it is working. You are why Joe is alive, why S.T.A.R. Labs's lights are still on, why everyone else still has the chance to fight back."

"Maybe. Still, this isn't the time to take care of another. And the child of that monster? I need to find a way to get rid of it before he finds out it even exists."

Ronnie shook his head knowingly. "You were never one against abortion." Caitlin looked up at him without a single emotion in her eyes. "Do you remember the package my mom sent when I said I proposed?"

Caitlin laughed. "Triple the clothes two babies would need, in case we had two sets of triplets within the month."

"You donated everything to the orphanage," Ronnie smiled.

"You approved," Caitlin said apologetically. "Besides, we weren't ready for a child. We were young, already had so much responsibility and no time."

Ronnie's smile died off, giving room to a grim look. "I always wanted a child."

"I know." She felt punched in the gut. She had known how much he wanted a family, but she always dismissed the idea, saying they still had time, that they still had a lot to experience before settling in. Then life had turned around and hit them in the face like a truck. "You would have been an amazing father."

"And you'd be an amazing mother."

Caitlin opened her mouth to protest, but was cut short when she heard a faint yet clear echo of her name. "Cisco?"

"You should go," Ronnie gestured toward her back. She turned back to see the familiar portal flickering, struggling to maintain a connection.

Ronnie started to walk away, but she called out. "Ronnie! What about the —?"

"I'm sure you'll do the right thing."

Caitlin hesitated for a second, then nodded. She took a deep breath before stepping into the portal.

* * *

 _I'm alive! Still. I'm not even going to apologize for the late update because we all know I'll do it again._

 _I hope you enjoyed!_

 _Silver_


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